Embodiments described below are related to process control. In particular, the embodiments are related to acoustic measurements in industrial plants.
In industrial process control environments, fluids and materials are processed using process equipment such as reactors, distillers, mixers, and heaters, for example. Within the industrial process control environment, the fluids and materials are housed in one or more tanks and are transported between various pieces of process equipment through conduits or piping. The movement of the fluids and materials through the conduits and tanks is controlled by one or more pumps and one or more valves including relief valves that open to relieve excess pressure. The components in a process control environment such as the process equipment, tanks, conduits, pumps and valves, for example, can be referred to generically as process elements or process assets.
Performance of the process steps is monitored by measuring one or more process variables using process transmitters that are attached to or fluidly coupled to one or more process assets. Each process transmitter contains a sensor that senses a state of a fluid or material within one or more process assets and circuitry that converts the sensor signal into one or process variables.
One example of a process transmitter is an acoustic process transmitter that measures acoustic signals associated with a process asset. For example, an acoustic process transmitter can be used to measure acoustic signals associated with a relief valve, safety valve, or steam trap to determine if the valve or trap is open or leaking. The acoustic transmitter measures the magnitude of the acoustic signal near the monitored asset and transmits a process variable representing the magnitude of the acoustic signal to a host through a network. Either the host or the acoustic process transmitter can compare the magnitude of the acoustic signal to an alarm level and trigger an alarm if the acoustic signal exceeds the threshold set for the monitored asset. Some devices also measure a temperature.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.